Recently we turned our attention to the gift of corporate and personal giving. The criteria in choosing a charity to support was that they must create a dramatic impact in the lives of the people they are helping; they must work in a way that is sustainable; they must provide a service that people truly want and the work must relate to vision. While listening to CBC Radio I fortunately heard an interview with Dr. Dave Irvine-Halliday.
Dr. Irvine-Halliday, was speaking about Light Up the World, a foundation whose vision is to, “work to provide affordable, safe, healthy, efficient, and environmentally responsible renewable energy based solid-state lighting solutions to the two billion people worldwide currently without access to proper lighting”.
A few months later a chance encounter with Dave and Executive Director, Roselyn Himann, convinced me that LUTW met our criteria for choosing a worthy cause to support. Additional benefits are that LUTW is also based in Calgary, Canada and works in countries that I have spent months travelling in and care very much about. As a sustainability photographer, I feel fortunate that there is an organization like LUTW right here in my hometown.
Our first step in supporting LUTW is to create portraits of the Board of Directors and staff for use in their marketing and promotional material. In the next phase, we are creating product photography of solar-powered lights so people can see the simple technology LUTW puts in the field to improve so many lives.
Brett Gilmour is a sustainability photographer based in Calgary, Alberta. He creates photography for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, Light Up The World, United Way and many other companies and not-for-profits.
